Last week we took Parker on his first road trip, it was our biannual family reunion and we went to Gulf Shores, Alabama. He did pretty well... he slept most of the time. We started out on Saturday, August 1st and drove from our house to Beaumont, where we stopped off to visit my aunt and grandma. We had lunch at the Black Eyed Pea and then went back to my aunt's house to visit for a bit before getting back in the car for the trip to New Orleans. We stopped there for the night, at my sister's new place in the garden district.
Since we had to bring almost everything we own with us to support our little bundle of joy, it took several trips to unload the car and get set up for the night. Then we tried to get some rest for the remainder of the trip to Gulf Shores the next day. We were slightly successful. When we woke up, we decided to go to breakfast at Slim Goodies Diner on Magazine. It is a great place. If you are ever in that part of New Orleans and are looking for a good greasy spoon, this is it. Then we got on the road and made it to Gulf Shores about mid afternoon on Sunday, August 2nd.
While there we spent most of our time tending to Parker. We didn't make it to the beach, but we did sit out by the pool one afternoon and we even introduced Parker to the water. Here's some video my sister shot of his first pool experience.
A pretty nice spread for a 1-year old. Heck, he didn't even know what was going on, but I bet he will be impressed when it gets older and sees these pictures or reads this blog.
Before we lit the candles on the cake and opened the presents, we all enjoyed some pizza. Parker had never had pizza before and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
After cutting it up into more manageable pieces, he tried it. Once he got over the initial shock of having a different textured food in his mouth, he really liked it. Of course, what food doesn't he like? :)
After pizza, we lit the candles, sang Happy Birthday, and cut the cake. Once again, Parker wasn't quite sure what to do with it. He just sat there and stared at it for about a minute.
Then we gave him a spoon to use. Although he doesn't know how to use it properly, sometimes putting a little food on it (in this case cake) and putting it in his mouth, helps to get him going. He didn't eat much of the cake, in part because a good portion of it ended up on his face.
Then it was time to open presents. This is the tunnel that Great Aunt Susan got him. He loves tunnels. We play in them all the time at Gymboree. When he was younger, he was scared of tunnels, but now they are so much fun and he really likes the one he got for his birthday. Thanks!
Aunt Megan gave Parker a wagon that contained big legos. Parker loves to play with the legos. He mostly destroys the creations his dad makes, but that it ok. We like to play build and destroy before bed sometimes. Thanks Aunt Megan!
Once everyone left, we got cleaned up and Parker put on his Batman outfit. We got this when we visited Six Flags in San Antonio over the Memorial Day weekend. Doesn't he look like a superhero?